Corning Gorilla Glass is used in a wide range of mobile devices and it might not have been so popular had Apple not decided to use it on the first iPhone.

It was reportedly Steve Jobs' idea - Jobs checked out an early iPhone prototype and he simply wanted it to be more durable. He correctly concluded that there are simply too many unintelligent people who carry around their keys and their phone in the same pocket. Apple is now apparently shifting to sapphire glass, but Corning's Gorilla Glass is still used in hundreds of millions of phones and tablets.

So far the emphasis has been on making Gorilla Glass more durable, scratch resistant and less likely to shatter if users happen to drop their phones. However, Corning has now added some antimicrobial properties to its trademark product. The latest version of Gorilla Glass features an ionic silver agent integrated in the surface and it should inhibit the development of fungi, mould, algae, mildew and bacteria.

"This innovation combines best-in-class antimicrobial function without compromising Gorilla Glass properties. Our specialty glass provides an excellent substrate for engineering antimicrobial and other functional attributes to help expand the capabilities of our Corning Gorilla Glass and address the needs of new markets,” the company said in a statement.

Corning points out that foam sprays and various films exist today, but they are a temporary fix and many manufacturers advise users to stay away from them.

On the other hand, if your phone really does develop mildew or fungi, you should probably clean it a bit more often, with or without Corning's antimicrobial glass.

Following up on the success of its Gorilla Glass, Corning launched Willow Glass, an even thinner and more flexible display glass technology than those currently on the market.

Willow Glass can be made to be only 0.05mm thick, which is a significant step up from the current displays. A quick look at the specs of Gorilla Glass reveal that the thinnest version is 0.5mm thick.

The key is in the manufacturing process, as the company used a so called roll-to-roll process at 500°C. This produces a thin, bendable and scratch resistant sheets of Willow glass that are only 100 microns thick. In fact, Willow Glass can be rolled up into a 2 inch radius without sustaining damage.

Such a thin and flexible, yet tough, material can be used for just about anything, from smartphones, tablets, netbooks and even solar cells. The flexibility also allows for freedom of design, enabling for some serious curves. Willow Glass,

The company claims that the price of Willow Glass isn’t too high due to efficiency of the process. If the success of Gorilla Glass, which has been featured in numerous smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and even TVs, is anything to go by, we’ll be probably be seeing Willow Glass on many new devices pretty soon.

You can get a clearer idea of the manufacturing process on the video below.

Back at CES 2012, Dell promised that it would start shipping its new XPS 13 Ultrabook by the end of February, and it appears that the company is right on schedule with availability starting today at $999.

The new XPS 13 Ultrabook features a 13.3-inch edge-to-edge LED backlit display with 1366 x 768 resolution protected by first-generation Gorilla Glass, an aluminum casing around its shell and a carbon-fiber composite back for extra ridigity and durability.

On the physical side of things, the ultrabook weighs in at 2.9 pounds (1.32kg), measures 0.71-inches (18mm) at its thickest point and tapers down to 0.24-inches (6mm) at its thinnest point. At the baseline $999 price, the device comes with a 32nm Intel 1.60GHz Core i5 2467M Sandy Bridge processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 128GB SSD. Pricing ranges all the way up to $1,499 and at the highest end, the specifications include an Intel 1.70GHz Core i7 2637M Sandy Bridge processor, 4GB of DDR3 and a 256GB SSD.

The ultrabook also includes one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Mini DisplayPort. However, no sign of an SD card slot or mini-HDMI port.

Corning introduced their second generation of the Gorilla Glass product line this morning in Las Vegas. Gorilla Glass 2 enables thinner product designs with up to a 20 percent reduction in glass thickness, while maintaining the industry-leading damage resistance, toughness, and scratch resistance. These benefits provide electronics manufacturers with design flexibility as they address consumer demand for increasingly high-performing, touch-sensitive, and durable mobile devices.

Product qualification and design implementation for Corning Gorilla Glass 2 are underway and companies are expected to unveil new devices using Gorilla Glass 2 during the coming months.

Gorilla Glass has set the industry standard for damage-resistant cover glass, and is now the most widely deployed cover glass, used by more than 30 major brands and designed into more than 575 product models, spanning more than 500 million units worldwide. Corning Gorilla Glass is expected to reach more than $700 million in 2011 sales, nearly triple their 2010 volume.